Found Family
by Pyral
Summary: At some point, it hit each of them that Seth and Kendra Sorenson were going to be—or already were—a vital part of their life.


It hadn't taken too long for Stan to realize that these kids were going to be more than just distant grandkids. He had been sitting in his office after finally explaining the truth of the preserve to them, his fingers interlaced and his eyes heavy.

"These kids," he muttered vaguely.

He wasn't even sure what part of the kids he was stressing about. Maybe it wasn't even the kids themselves. The preserve was dangerous—telling them about it was the only way to keep them safe, but at the same time, they had been thrust into a whole new world of complexities and peril. Too many had been unable to cope with the knowledge, or hadn't taken it seriously and met a grisly fate.

But Stan couldn't help but notice that the Sorenson siblings were different. Most immediately declared they were dreaming, or laughed when they were told the truth, even when they had seen the fairies themselves. Some had mental breakdowns. Some simply couldn't see—their ignorance kept them blind. But the kids had accepted it all with relative ease, as though it was a secret truth they had known deep inside and never consciously realized. Stan had never seen anyone take it all in that quickly.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. Maybe these kids were something special. Or maybe they were just going to make things more complicated.

Oh, if only he had known.

—–—–—–—

 _It's done_ , Ruth told herself. _The kids are going home, and they won't be in any more danger. It's done_.

She knew that "it" wasn't the kids' entire lives on the preserve, it was only the chaos that Muriel had caused. Seth and Kendra would be back. The though left a strange feeling in her stomach. As much as she wanted to be a part of her grandchildren's lives, she didn't want them to be in danger. They had faced enough with Muriel.

She had helped the kids gather their things in preparation to head home, she had kissed the two of them goodbye, and she had waved to them as they drove off in their parents' car, but she still felt like she hadn't done enough for them. Their lives had taken on a new, strange part. There was no true way to deal with that, but Ruth still wanted to do something.

She rolled over in bed and gently shook her husband's shoulder. "Stanley. Stan, wake up."

There was a bothered mumble in response, and then "What's wrong, honey?"

"Are the kids going to be okay going home?"

Stan turned over to face her and grasp her hands. "Hey," he said. "You're worrying again. They'll be fine."

"Of course I'm worried. I just spent two years as a chicken and gave Nero a back rub. I know how badly stuff can go wrong," she scoffed.

"I'm sure they're safest home." Stan rubbed his eyes, and Ruth realized he probably couldn't see her well without his glasses. Either that or he was tired. Perhaps both.

"Alright." Ruth didn't feel very reassured, but both she and her husband were tired, and there wasn't much they could do in the middle of the night. "Good night, honey. I love you."

"I love you too."

Something about the darkness seemed more suffocating.

—–—–—–—

Dale still was feeling the effects of the shadow plague, even two weeks after it had been defeated. All of those who had been affected for a longer period of time still felt it—chills, occasional fever, sneezing, and a general feeling of sickness and depression. When Dale's fever had spiked to 104, Stan and Ruth had immediately forbidden him from working around the preserve and stuck him in the living room with a blanket and a cup of cocoa.

Maybe the satyrs had the right idea. A TV would be pretty welcome right now. Anything mindless to cure the boredom.

Dale chugged the last of his hot cocoa and dropped the mug on the coffee table. He had been there nearly all day with nothing to do—his phone was back at the cabin, and since he couldn't help around the preserve, he really didn't know what to do with himself. Hugo and Mendigo, newly reassembled by the apologetic brownies, had taken all of Dale's jobs for the day, and everyone else was sleeping off the stress and sickness.

Several thumps on the stairs and a bit of bickering caught Dale's attention, and remembered that there were two people not sleeping. Seth and Kendra had been packing to head home. As much as Dale didn't want to admit it, it was sad to see them go.

Seth's voice drifted down the stairs. "...C'mon, Kenny, I'm not your bellboy." Kendra's voice called something back, and Seth grumbled. "Fine, whatever."

Dale sat up. Seth was tromping down the stairs with his sister's suitcase dragging behind him.

It took Seth a moment to notice Dale was there, but when he did, he broke into a huge grin. "Hey! We were worried we wouldn't catch you."

"Wouldn't catch me?" Dale tried to get up, but a wave of dizziness hit him and he fell back down. "What do you mean?"

"Well, me and Kenny are gonna wake people up to say goodbye, but we thought you were sleeping in the cabin." Seth shrugged. "We didn't know if Mom and Dad would be okay with going out there. Or if Grandpa would let them. Y'know, because the preserve's dangerous and stuff."

Dale managed to hoist himself to his feet. Black spots danced in his vision, but he kept himself upright. "Well, I'm glad you caught me. I don't want my favorite second cousins leaving without saying goodbye."

Despite the quite wonderful compliment he had just received, Seth put a hand in his chest and gasped like he had been offended. "Dale," he scoffed, "second cousins? We're so much more than second cousins. We're like—ultimate cousins."

Dale rolled his eyes. "Just c'mere and give me a hug."

"Not now, I'm not!" Seth skipped away from Dale, sticking out his tongue. "I'm not touching you."

"Don't be a brat—"

"Don't be a jerk!"

"Will you just—" Dale tried to grab Seth in a hug, but Seth ducked out.

"Here's a gift from your wonderful second cousin!" Seth peeled off his flip flop and chucked it at Dale. It only hit Dale on the shoulder, but Dale still thumped down to the floor.

"I'm sick, you can't throw stuff at me!" Dale complained.

"Who's sick?" Kendra's voice came, and her footsteps thunked down the stairs. "Well, everyone's sick, but who's sick in particular?"

"Our _second cousin_!" Seth yelled up the stairs.

Kendra stopped at the bottom of the stairs and dropped her backpack. "Second cousin? We don't have second cousins. We have cousins."

"Tell Dale that."

Kendra shot Dale the stink-eye. "You're our cousin. Deal with it."

Dale threw Seth's flip flop back at him and ended up missing by five feet. Seth popped it back on his foot anyways, still giving Dale a look.

"Whatever," Dale sniffed, but his chest felt warm. "Just give me a hug. I'm not contagious."

"Cousin pile!" Seth flopped face-first onto Dale's stomach. Kendra casually laid down on top.

"Oof," mumbled Dale. "Yeah, sure. Cousin pile."

—–—–—–—

Warren didn't expect to stay up too late, but there he was at 3:30 in the morning, face on the table and a bottle of wine open in front of him. He tried not to drink often—if his dad had taught him anything, it was that drinking was destructive—but right now he just needed something to blur the world around him for a while.

"Warren?"

He looked up. Dale was standing at head of the table, an unreadable expression on his face. Or maybe Warren was just buzzed enough to not pick up on expressions.

"Dude," Dale said. "Kendra's alive. You don't need to feel sad anymore."

Warren rubbed his face. "I... I know, man. Just—I don't know. I'm feeling _something_."

Dale sat down next to Warren and popped the cork back into the wine bottle. Warren didn't argue. Maybe he _had_ had enough.

"It's been a rough week," Dale murmured.

"No kidding," agreed Warren. He leaned back and looked at the ceiling. "I really thought she was gone. I—" he hiccuped, "I would never be able to see her again, or make some cruddy joke and laugh about it with her. I wouldn't be able to look Seth in the eye again. I let his sister die on my watch—he knows, he _knows_ it could've easily been him, or that it could actually happen and he'd never see his sister again." Warren gave a bitter laugh. "We keep thinking we're gonna beat the Society. All we're doing is slowing them down. Not even. They can walk all over us, take away our cousin from right under our noses, and there's nothing we can do—"

"Shut up."

Warren blinked and looked back at his brother. "What?"

Dale had never been one to show off his emotions, but right now his glare was pure anger. "Our family, all the way back to freakin' Patton Burgess, has done everything to fight the Society. We've seen people give everything just to do a little. You spent two years _gone_ because of your efforts, and the thing is, we've gotten stuff done. We have Vanessa on our side now, we know the Sphinx is the enemy, we have the Chronometer and fought the shadow plague. So _don't_ tell me it's all in vain. We've done some amazing stuff."

Warren's mouth fell slightly open. "Yeah, but—"

Dale narrowed his eyes. "No."

"But—"

Dale stomped on Warren's foot. " _No_."

Warren went to say something, stopped, choked on his words, and finally shut his mouth. "We've done a lot," he got out.

"We've done a lot," Dale repeated, sounding more certain.

"The kids are going to be okay."

"They will be. I'm certain. They've got you."

—–—–—–—

"It's too late to brush teeth," complained Seth.

"It's never too late for good hygiene," stated Tanu, and steered the Sorenson siblings into the bathroom. "C'mon. Just brush your teeth, and then you guys can go to bed."

"Ugh." Kendra flopped on the cabinet, not even bothering to touch her toothbrush. "Jetlag."

Tanu sighed. He knew the kids were tired, they had all just flown in from a preserve in Argentina and didn't want to bother with teeth at two in the morning. Kendra had expended all her energy helping Bracken put the new shrine together, and Seth had spent all night chatting with the preserve's goblins and convincing them to abide by a few new additions to the treaty. They both looked ready to collapse, but Tanu knew Ruth would never let him hear the end of it if he didn't do everything for the kids.

Including keeping them up way past their bedtimes. Tanu decided to ignore that fact.

"Come on, you two," said Tanu. He pulled the kids' toothbrushes out of the cup and pressed them into the kids' hands.

Kendra groaned at him, but she grabbed the toothpaste and tried to squeeze it out.

"Cap's still on, dummy," groaned Seth. "Here—give me some too, will ya?"

Kendra whacked him in the head with the tube, but she still got the toothpaste out without dropping any.

"Two minutes, guys. That's all you need," said Tanu.

Seth stuck his toothbrush in his mouth, dropped his head onto the counter, and muttered something about two minutes that probably shouldn't be repeated. Kendra snorted and choked on her toothbrush.

"Come on, you whiners," sighed Tanu.

Kendra spat in the sink and scowled at the mirror. "Come on, you. You're turning into Gramma."

"Yeah," agreed Seth. "You're supposed to be the kick-ass uncle, not the second gramma."

Tanu blinked at his own reflection, so shocked that he didn't even notice Seth making zombie noises and baring toothpaste-covered teeth at his sister. "Uncle?" he asked.

"Yeah," muttered Kendra, and dropped her toothbrush back into the cup. "Uncle Tuna. I mean Tanu. Sorry, I'm tired."

Seth mumbled in agreement, spat into the sink, and flopped onto the floor. He wasn't even down for a second before Tanu heard a snore.

Kendra looked down, looked back up at Tanu, and then sat down next to her brother and dozed off. Tanu didn't even have a chance to tell her no.

"I—guys, don't... you know what, whatever." Tanu sighed and slung Seth over his shoulder, and then picked Kendra up by the arms and struggled to drag them both to the attic.

If this was what an uncle did, it was hard. But then again, with these kids, it was more than worth it.

—–—–—–—

"You want to know a secret?" scoffed Vanessa as they walked into the public library. "The drivers around here are all idiots."

"Or you just drive like you're on a preserve and don't use your blinkers," suggested Kendra.

"Shut up."

Seth looked around. "So... where's the group?" He looked surprisingly anxious. Vanessa hadn't seen him like this since the Totem Wall.

"We could ask the front desk," said Vanessa.

"Uh, no." Kendra gave Vanessa a look, like, _Are you kidding me_? "I'm not going up to the desk and asking for the LGBT support group. That's pretty much broadcasting ourselves to everyone. No thanks."

"Then just ask for GLOW," said Vanessa. "Not everyone knows it's an acronym."

"Wait, it's an acronym?" Seth looked up. "What's it stand for?"

"Gay, lesbian, or whatever. It's a good group. I went to the one in my area when I was your age."

"Oh man. Oh man." Seth started dancing around like he had to go the bathroom. "Maybe they've got too many people. Maybe they don't like people who are too young. Maybe we should go home."

"Don't back down now, dummy." Kendra grabbed her brother by the arm. "Come on. I bet it's upstairs."

Seth mumbled something, but he let her drag him up the library stairs.

A small group was sitting in a circle, laughing and chatting. Most of them were in their late teens, but there was still a few kids around Seth's age. Some of them looked up when Vanessa and the kids walked up, and an older woman with curly dark hair jumped up excitedly.

"Ah, you two must be the Murphy children!" She bustled over and gave Seth and Kendra's hands a hearty shake, clearly unaware that Seth and Kendra were using a fake last name. "It's wonderful to meet you. I'm so glad you signed up, welcome to GLOW! My name is Ms. Robins."

"Uh, hi," Kendra said. Seth took a slight step back. They hadn't dealt with a new face as peppy as Ms. Robins for a while. "I'm Kendra Murphy. This is my brother Seth. Nice to meet you too."

"Come on in, I'll introduce you to everyone. And this is...?" Ms. Robins looked expectantly at Vanessa.

Automatically, she gave a fake name. "Victoria. Most call me Vicky." Vanessa winced. Her training from the Society still reared its head in strange places.

Kendra gave her a strange look. "Uh, yeah. She's our... uh." She nudged Seth.

"Our cousin," Seth blurted.

Now it was Vanessa's turn to give them a strange look. "Sure," she said dryly.

Ms. Robins seemed slightly confused by the exchange, but she didn't say anything about it. "Yes, well, whenever you're ready, come on and sit down." She smiled and strode back to her place in the circle.

Vanessa immediately dropped her voice. "Cousin?"

Seth shrugged and smiled. He seemed less nervous now that he had annoyed someone. "First thing that popped into my head."

"I guess it doesn't really matter," suggested Kendra, and her smile turned into a smirk. "Considering you and Warren, you'll be our cousin-in-law at some point anyways."

"Ooh! Yeah!" Seth clapped his hands excitedly.

"Ugh, no. I'm not talking to you two right now." The blix turned on her heel. "Listen, just call if you want to leave early, okay? I'll be at the grocery store. Do you guys need anything?"

The kids shrugged. "Did you take the grocery list? I put some stuff on it," Kendra said.

"Yeah. Ruth wouldn't let me leave without it. Later, _angelitos_."

"Bye!" Seth called out and pulled a silly face, and Kendra just waved.

Vanessa didn't look back when she walked off, but when she reached the bottom of the stairs, she leaned against the wall and harrumphed.

"Come on, Vanessa, what happened to not getting too attached?" she muttered to herself. It wasn't too hard to realize that that ship had sailed long ago.

—–—–—–—

Seth ran his hands through his newly-dyed red hair. "This looks, so, absolutely, badass!" he squealed.

"Dude, the red's gonna come off on your hands if you touch it!" Elise swatted Seth's hands.

"Ah, sorry!" Seth excitedly drummed his hands on the bathroom counter. "Oh, man. This looks so cool. I don't think Warren would ever help me do this!"

"Maybe. I think Warren actually had a hair-dying phase back in high school, he might still be regretting it. Dale gave me blackmail pics," snorted Elise.

"You better give me those. And I don't know if Warren would do it. It's like—" Seth pondered it for a moment. "It's like you're the cool cousin, and he's the cool cousin with limits."

"Cool cousin?" Elise asked.

"Yeah, cool cousin! I'm gonna go show Gramma!" Seth sprinted out.

Half of Elise went to stop him, knowing fully well Ruth would have a fit, but the other half felt some strange mix of frozenness and warmth. After leaving all her brothers behind to pursue the world of the Knights, having another family was something amazing.

—–—–—–—

Mara didn't stay at the Sorenson house too often, in her opinion. She did stop by a couple of times a month in order to get missions from Stan, but that was usually only for a weekend while supplies were gathered and plans were made. Usually she hung out in the front yard or chatted with Vanessa, Elise, and Tanu. She talked to the kids whenever the chance arose, but she never really went out of her way. Maybe. That's what her opinion was.

So when Kendra came running into the guest room where Mara was staying and slammed a stack of papers onto the desk, it honestly was a shock.

"Um. Hi," Mara said shortly.

"Hi," Kendra said. "You know history stuff, right?"

"...Yes."

"Good. What were the causes of the Civil War?"

"I—I'm a little rusty."

"Don't care." Kendra grabbed a few papers, sat down on the bed, and started shuffling through her notes. "I've got an essay due next Thursday and I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Isn't Warren the one teaching you history? You're homeschooled."

"Yes, and Warren said he'd make us do the worst chores around the preserve if Seth and I don't turn homework in. I think that rule was for Seth, but honestly, it's killing me. He's out around the preserve right now, so I came to you. Okay?" Kendra looked up expectantly.

"Um." Mara blinked. "I'm... flattered? I need some paper. And a pen."

"Got it." Kendra dropped her papers on Mara's lap and rustled in her pockets for a pen. "I have to go grab one—you know, is it okay if you help Seth too? He's been struggling too."

"Sure...?"

"Awesome. I'll go grab him." Kendra went to leave, but Mara flagged her down.

"Wait, wait, how did you know I'm good at history?" Mara asked.

Kendra shrugged. "It's kind of obvious when you're using battle strategies and saying they're from ancient times. And pointing out that certain moves wrecked armies in past wars. And comparing what we do now to what generals did in history. Eventually it becomes obvious that you know your stuff."

"That's... that's... really nice? Thank you." Mara glanced at the papers, already formulating a way to teach it all. "I—If you guys need help, just... come tell me. I'd be happy to."

"Thank you!" Kendra jumped forward and gave Mara a hug. "I'll get Seth!" With that, she was gone.

"Um." Mara hesitantly picked up the papers. Most were typed notes, but Kendra's handwriting scribbled out on the sides. Mara narrowed her eyes at the papers.

"God, Warren," she muttered. "You didn't even begin to cover the complexities of it all. The Civil War was so much more complicated than just slavery."

She sighed. She was going to be teaching these kids a lot.


End file.
